Singapore is on track to receive 12-13 million tourists this year and tourism receipts of 22-24 billion Singapore dollars (SGD), Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Education, Mr S. Iswaran, said today.
“Supported by our investments in software to enhance productivity and quality, we should be on track to achieve the forecast of 12-13 million visitor arrivals and SGD 22 to SGD 24 billion in tourism receipts in 2011,” he said.
“Singapore is well-placed to tap this growth. With innovative ideas, an integrated approach within the industry and greater productivity, we can ride on Asia’s momentum and position ourselves for the next phase of growth,” he said at the opening of a Singapore Tourism Board conference.
The senior State Minister also called on the tourism industry to continually push for product and process innovation to meet rising expectations of sophisticated and affluent travellers.
Last year, 11.6 million tourists visited Singapore, a 20 per cent increase vis-a-vis 2009, while tourism receipts increased by 49 per cent to SGD 18.8 billion.
The World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report has ranked Singapore 10th out of 139 world economies for competitiveness of the tourism sector.